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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29082009">The Great Train Robbery</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuddenPainter/pseuds/SuddenPainter'>SuddenPainter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nightcall [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Panam likes big guns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:55:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,911</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29082009</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuddenPainter/pseuds/SuddenPainter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>V’s previous gig had some unintended bonuses. Now him and Aldecaldos just need to hijack a train to reap the benefits. </p><p>Series of one-offs about V and his escapades around Night City and beyond. Can be read as a series or standalone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Panam Palmer &amp; Male V, Panam Palmer/Male V, Panam Palmer/V</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nightcall [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128197</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Great Train Robbery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>We finally get to some action.  Don’t want to spoil anything, so more notes about the chapter at the end!</p><p>Warning: some not dwelled on mantis blades-produced gore included.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was starting to set when they finally reached the camp. It was over a week since V has been here. He knew he missed the Aldecaldos, but didn’t expect to be missed back; nomads were friendly with him, there was no denying that, but he still felt that it would take a long time until everyone accepted him as much as Panam or Mitch have. </p><p> </p><p>To his surprise, many others were genuinely happy to see him. As he walked through the camp to drop off gear at his tent, people would call and wave at him, welcoming him back, asking where he has been for so long. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey V! Come see the new rig that Dakota and I built while you were away. It has an ice bath and everything!” Carol beckoned from the netrunner tent.</p><p> </p><p>“Will do, just gotta drop this off!” V was glad that the nomads made use of the gear he tipped them off about after one of his cyberpsycho capture gigs. The nutter had a real good setup hiding under the GDN, it would be a waste to leave it there. V would gladly keep it himself, but his flat could barely fit his armoury, let alone a full netrunner setup. Besides, he felt like he would be spending more time at the camp than at his flat anyway. </p><p> </p><p>The new setup could wait though, first thing first - gear, shower and new clothes. Yet, as V approached where he last remembered his tent was when he left, he found Cassidy stretched out in his deck chair instead, cowboy hat covering his face from the sun. </p><p> </p><p>“Um, Cassidy. It’s probably a gonk question, but have you seen my tent?” </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, she didn’t tell you then? Panam called earlier, asked that we relocate you closer to hers. Should’ve done that sooner I say, one time seeing your bare ass stalking through the camp at night was one time too many.” </p><p> </p><p>“Umm… cool…. thanks, Cass!” V tried his best to feign ignorance of what the cowboy was talking about, not very successfully and decided it was best to delta. </p><p> </p><p>He found his tent not just closer to Pan’s, but quite literally attached to it, creating a truly luxurious for nomad standards two-room setup. </p><p> </p><p>“Ah there you are, I wanted to tell you, but you jumped out of the rig so eagerly, I decided to let you go on a detour.” Panam was sitting inside the open tent, having already changed. </p><p> </p><p>V had no complaints about this arrangement, not one, nada. However, something was bugging him. </p><p> </p><p>“Panam, before I jump to any conclusions, isn’t this the ‘moving in’ that you so didn’t want me to ask you to do?”</p><p> </p><p>Panam did see the conflict of messaging here herself, and she knew exactly why she changed her mind so quickly. It was when V rolled from under the ancient truck back at the bar, all covered in engine grease, but beaming with a sense of accomplishment as he finally fixed the oil leak. To someone else, this might have not been much, but for the nomad mechanic this was the exact moment she knew - she wanted to be with him, and him to be with her. She called Mitch to arrange the move while V was busy cleaning up. </p><p> </p><p>“If you are not happy with this arrangement you can always move the tent back yourself…” No matter her feelings, she refused to yield so easily. </p><p> </p><p>V didn’t say anything, just put his gear down next to hers - he wasn’t going anywhere.</p><p> </p><p>——-</p><p> </p><p>“I am coming in, you better start getting dressed!” Mitch came into their tent, mockingly blocking his eyes with his hand. “One sight of V’s naked…” </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, would everyone shut up about it already!” V felt his rep crumble the wider the talk about his nighttime streak to his own tent spread around camp.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine fine, can’t antagonise you - need help on something, and only you can help. Literary.” </p><p> </p><p>“Don’t you mean figura-“</p><p> </p><p>“I said what I said, you will see when you give me an actual minute to explain!” Mitch’s frustration was exaggerated, but he had a point. V and Panam leaned forward, showing they were ready to pay attention. “So, that Militech base you broke into, just to find out where to take Panam on a date, remember that? Well, you clearly did a number on their tech; all of their droids are locked to your signature and will not respond to anyone else’s command.” </p><p> </p><p>“Does that mean we have an army of V-loyal droids somewhere?” An image of a robotic army at her disposal flashed before Panam. </p><p> </p><p>“Well, I wouldn’t say an army exactly…” Mitch chuckled. “But my source did mention that they sent a few technicians and grunts to the infirmary before they could power them down.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t think I should come anywhere near that base for a looong time.” V shook his head. “Plus surely they will have all the droids holed up somewhere deep in a workshop so they can reset the tech properly.”</p><p> </p><p>“Most droids, yes; but not all of them! Some are due to be transported to another facility in the morning. Apparently, the prototype models can’t be serviced just anywhere.” Mitch paused for a second to let the other two mull the info over for a sec. “We jump that convoy, we power the bots up, you tell them nicely to leave their corpo overlords and come with us, we delta the fuck out of there. Done!”</p><p> </p><p>V rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “The fact that they are pre-hacked will make this significantly easier, that’s for sure. But I bet Militech will quadruple security on this one, local bigshots will not risk a double fuck-up.” </p><p> </p><p>“Oh come on you two, don’t you see - it’s an ambush to bait V, plain and simple.” Panam crossed her arms at them. “It’s too convenient that you just happen to hear about a lucrative heist target connected with V’s latest escapades.” </p><p> </p><p>“You are probably right.” Veteran shrugged. “But if we prepare as if they are armed to the teeth, we can be ready for it. Plus as V said, we will have the bots to support us, as long as we manage to power them up. And, Panam, we <em> really </em> need a new drone.”</p><p> </p><p>She knew they did. Having taken the leadership mantle with Saul, she now was aware first-hand of how close to the edge they often lived. The list of important things that were ‘this’ close from reaching their end-of-life was not getting any shorter, and the drone was well into ‘how is it still functioning?’ territory. </p><p> </p><p>“Ok then, let’s go hijack our second Militech convoy in a month, why the hell not!” </p><p> </p><p>——-</p><p> </p><p>The plan was simple, relatively speaking. </p><p> </p><p>The droids were to be moved in a high-speed train, going somewhere out of NC. Normally, they would have no chance of catching up with it, but it had to go slow within 30 miles of NC as per regulations. Judging by the length of the railway on the satellite snaps V took, they had about 10 minutes to do the job, or they could be stuck on the train all the way to some top-secret Militech base. </p><p> </p><p>The consensus had it that the easiest way would be to disconnect whichever carriage contained the drones from the main train, pump the brakes, get the Aldecaldos to swarm their trucks around it and V to command droids to get in and await further instructions. So far so good.</p><p> </p><p>Then the security question came up. Early recon showed a five-fold increase in Militech presence at the train depot, remote scans of the train revealed turrets, drone modules, even anti-aircraft missiles. That certainly complicated things. </p><p> </p><p>“There is no way we can stay close to the train with all that external firepower - we’ll have to move from the inside.” V was pointing at one of the ends of a wrench that was the train on their map. “2-3 people get in, move to the third carriage from the tail, blast the link to the rest of the train, pump the brakes.” </p><p> </p><p>“I doubt there will be any less security on the inside, but at least they won’t have drones buzzing about. Fair game. So who will be the inside team?” Saul looked over the table. </p><p> </p><p>“Who do you think? V and I are going in, Mitch is our getaway driver. No offence to any of you, but this will get very hot very quickly, wouldn’t want to risk any of you.” Panam eyed everyone, and upon seeing no disapproval, continued. “Good, settled then. Saul, can you assign drivers while we prep the gear?” </p><p> </p><p>Saul wasn’t used to getting orders, but this was one of the new things that came with Panam being his co-leader. </p><p> </p><p>——</p><p> </p><p>Back at their tent, V was scrolling through the list of weapons he had stashed back at his place. He wasn’t expecting to be storming an army train when he left to meet Panam earlier, so had only Skippy, who never left his side, on hand. The smart gun was a formidable weapon, but this needed more options. He settled on Lizzie, the wall-piercer and Psalm, the ‘flamethrower rifle’. Between these three, he would be ready for anything. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey Panam, I know you and your sniper rifle are inseparable, but I am not sure that will work well inside the train. Do you want to borrow one of my guns?” </p><p> </p><p>“Very sweet of you to offer!” Her smile was genuine. “But I have just the thing for this occasion.” With a smug grin, the nomad clicked open the lid of a weapon case she pulled from under the bed, revealing what could only be described as a hand cannon. </p><p> </p><p>V scanned the gun, but the database came back blank. “What on earth is this?” </p><p> </p><p>“Funny you phrase it like that.” Panam took the weapon out and put it on her lap so he could see better. “This, my darling V, is a gift from above. We found it in a space crash pod, the thing landed near our camp one day, gave us one hell of a scare.” </p><p> </p><p>“Still didn’t tell me what it is - I’ve never seen anything like it.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s something between a shotgun and a revolver… as in it shoots 6 shotgun shells at a time, it’s insane.”</p><p> </p><p>“So it’s a space weapon?”</p><p> </p><p>“Who knows, maybe, maybe just an experimental prototype - I am sure you already checked and saw it doesn’t have any ID on it. The pod had Sputnik written on it, so we presume it’s Soviet. Because Carnage was clearly not enough firepower for them.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, it is a perfect gun for the job! I am a little jealous,” V admitted honestly. He was a magician with a pistol and pretty great with an assault rifle, but shotguns and sniper rifles were just not his forte. ‘How can you mess up shooting with a shotgun,’ Johnny would mock him constantly after he witnessed V completely miss his shot. Panam on the other hand was all about sniper rifles and shotguns. This one was just another of the ways they were totally opposite but completed each other. </p><p> </p><p>Panam was done checking the gun and went on to get her weapon harness on, slotting a backup pistol and a knife in. </p><p> </p><p>That reminded V he had one more weapon to check. Instinctively stepping a bit away from Panam to make space, he stretched his arms in front of him as a pair of razor-sharp blades extended from his forearms with an air-slashing swoosh. A feeling of pure murderous intent overwhelmed him for a split second as the mantis blades fully connected to his neural processors. After one of his capture missions, Regina mentioned that getting overwhelmed in that exact moment is what sends many cyberpsychos over the edge - it was no coincidence the vast majority of them had mantis blades installed. V always braced for that moment when using the blades, making sure to keep hold on his mind; Johnny would help as well, ensuring parts of V’s brain he already had control over would not succumb to psychosis. </p><p> </p><p>The threat of going cyberpsycho and the sheer brutality that came with using the blades made the merc reluctant to engage them often. Vic would offer to change them for a rocket launcher or gorilla hands free-of-charge even, they unsettled the doc so much. Nonetheless, V vividly remembered every time the blades saved him from being killed, often by someone with blades of their own. </p><p> </p><p>A feeling of warm fingers wrapping against his wrist pulled him back into reality. Panam gently held his hand while carefully tracing the blade with her other hand. “I hope it doesn’t come to this. I know how much you hate having to use them.” No warnings came up in the diagnostic, so V retracted the blades back in, hoping to not see them again for a while. </p><p> </p><p>“I think I’m ready, should we go pick up the rest of my gear from the flat then?” </p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>Having all his gear ready, V took the lift to the parking level, where he found Panam waiting for him by the pair of bikes - Jackie’s Arch and Scorpion’s Apollo. V returned the dead Aldecaldo’s bike to Panam shortly after he was given a tent at the nomad camp - it felt more right to him that she kept it, especially as Jackie’s bike could handle the Badlands well enough.</p><p> </p><p>The nomad and the merc fired up the bikes and raced out of the garage towards the train line, carried by the trusty engines that once belonged to their now-dead friends. </p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>They caught up with the train shortly after it left the inner edge of Night City. Bikes were chosen for two reasons: they made smaller targets for the turrets, and, more importantly, could easily fit on the mag-rails. Smooth, straight and wide metal railings made for perfect lanes to floor the bikes. </p><p> </p><p>They were meant to catch up to the train, hack or blast the side entry door of the back carriage and enter, ideally also disabling the outer security systems if there was a socket available. </p><p> </p><p>Just as the pair were approaching the train, the world suddenly came to halt - V’s synaptic accelerator triggered. He barely had time to engage the cybernetics in his legs to launch himself forward, as a slow-motion projectile hit the rail just in front of his bike, sending sparks flying in all directions. Time resumed its normal pace just as he landed on the back of Panam’s bike, briefly startling the nomad as he held on to her for balance.</p><p> </p><p>“V! Are you okay?? Shit! The turrets triggered already.” Panam’s voice was drowned in sounds of metal hitting metal as the turret started to blast at its next target, bike zigzagging and swinging from side to side as the rider dodged the shots. </p><p> </p><p>“I am fine, but the bike…” he didn’t see what happened to the Arch, but he would need to worry about that later, otherwise they may as well meet the same fate. </p><p> </p><p>V scanned the turret, clenching his jaw as the analysis flashed a double layer of ICE. “Panam, I will need to jack into that thing for a bit longer than usual, just make sure we don’t lose line of sight!” The nomad only nodded, fully concentrating at dodging the barrage. V wrapped his hands around her tighter, setting the implants motor functions on ‘lock’. A moment later, he was surrounded by streams of data, hacking at black walls of ICE to get to the exposed digital core while blocking the security program from trying to fry his brain in retaliation. </p><p> </p><p>After what felt like hours in cyberspace, but mere moments in the real world, V came back into himself. The turret stopped firing, overpowered by half-a-dozen daemons V had uploaded to keep it subdued. Suddenly, a spark flared somewhere within it, and the whole contraption exploded, blasting a hole in the train's hull. Panam barely managed to dodge the debris that fell on the tracks. </p><p> </p><p>That was their new entry point. Panam pulled as close to the train as she could, with V launching up from the back of the bike, grabbing onto the jagged metal edge with one of his mantis blades. Panam put the bike on auto before grabbing V’s outstretched arm and getting hauled into the opening. V followed shortly after, quickly glancing at the bike that fell behind as it started to decelerate and edge away from the tracks. </p><p> </p><p>Unsurprisingly, the whole train was on high alert by then. The inside was illuminated by the orange glow of the warning lights, alarm assaulting their ears. V quickly scanned the room for entry ports, finding one hidden in the corner next to some crates. The system design clearly did not account for someone tampering with it from the inside, so he easily dismantled the rest of the turret system, nodding to Panam to signal to the nomad crew that they were safe to approach the train. </p><p> </p><p>Despite the alarms, nobody was storming their location. That could mean only one thing - an ambush was waiting for them as soon as they opened the doors to the next carriage. V and Panam crouched to get better cover and betray their movements as little as possible. They positioned themselves on both sides of the door, Panam’s finger hovering over the unlock button, waiting for V’s signal. </p><p> </p><p>Johnny materialised in V’s sights. When it came to firefights, he was merc’s secret weapon - while they shared a field of vision, Johnny’s attention and speed of response worked on a completely different level than V’s. While V was focusing on one thing, the engrammed rocker was free to focus on anything else V’s optics registered, even if V hadn’t acknowledged it himself. They discovered this trait when fighting synced twins, later paying them for coaching lessons to perfect it. They called it ‘‘Guardian’ - Johnny would constantly warn V if he felt that the merc missed an enemy flanking him, or overlooked a red beam of a proximity mine. </p><p> </p><p>So when Panam nodded back at V’s signal, releasing the door lock, so did Johnny, immediately focusing his attention at the enemies hunkered down in the next room. The slow-time implant was particularly helpful for Johnny, as he could analyse the room at the speed of an engram, while V was slowed down by his meatbrain. Ex-Samurai would flash from place to place where he saw barrels of guns or tips of helmets show behind cover. In V’s vision, it looked like he could see through walls. </p><p> </p><p>[ 01:361 remaining ] time dilation timer counted down. </p><p> </p><p>V pushed on the trigger as he was raising Lizzie to charge the weapon, releasing it just as the timer hit zero. </p><p> </p><p>A short burst of bullets easily pierced the closest crate, instantly flatlining whoever was hiding behind it. </p><p> </p><p>And then the whole carriage plunged into a hail of gunfire. </p><p> </p><p>Panam fired her cannon blindly into the room, causing an avalanche of projectiles ricocheting throughout the narrow space, leaving rays of sunlight as they pierced the outer walls. More bodies dropped on the floor. </p><p> </p><p>Johnny was on top of his form. </p><p> </p><p>“V, left partition, he is about to pop out.” Shot. Cry. Thud. “Guy with a shotgun, 10 o’clock, reloading.” Skippy in hand, V slid forward, pointing the gun in the direction indicated by Johnny. Guided projectiles rushed at the soldier’s head like angry bees. Blood splattered, a limp body fell backwards. All the while, Panam kept raining shots at the remaining defenders, shredding them one by one. </p><p> </p><p>Everything felt quiet again, just the steady hum of the train remained.</p><p> </p><p>“V, they ain’t here.” Panam looked around. Among the blood and metal, no droids could be seen. “Must be the next carriage.” They would have to do this again. </p><p> </p><p>Watching them on the security screens, the team in the next carriage took their time to reinforce their defences and hang back more to avoid the devastating firepower of Panam’s gun. As the duo fired their armour-piercing weapons, they realised that the fortifications were too thick. Militech grunts were fortified properly and started firing back immediately, forcing both to seek cover. A bullet grazed V’s cheek just as he tried to peek out. At this rate, the stalemate could be held up just long enough for the train to leave the low-speed zone, then the heist would be truly and utterly fucked. </p><p> </p><p>“V, they have some of the droids in the back behind them.” Johnny knelt with him as if to also avoid getting shot. “Just need to find a way to activate them - they will listen to you.” </p><p> </p><p>V looked around intently, scanning for any piece of tech connected to the network that he could exploit. Not finding anything in his immediate field of view, he shouted: “Panam, cover me!” </p><p> </p><p>Ducking out of the way of the shrapnel burst, he crawled behind a shredded by gunfire wall. Carefully peeking through one of the holes, V managed to spot a small glowing screen of the security system that the defenders were using to watch them earlier. </p><p> </p><p><em> Perfect, </em> he thought, thoughts already racing into cyberspace. Pushing his limits on the speed of thinking up and executing commands, V managed to hack the screen, breach the network, find the power controller endpoint, breach that and zip back into the droid charging unit to release them, all the while ensuring to leave clear directives as to who was friend or foe. Using this much of his deck’s processing capacity at once left him with an alarmingly warm feeling in the back of his head. If he pushed at this level for much longer, he could slow cook his own brain. </p><p> </p><p>He took a second to recuperate after exiting the quickhack interface when he heard astonished cries turned into cries of anguish as the bots opened fire at the backs of the Militech soldiers. To the grunts’ credit, they regrouped fast enough to shield themselves from the new assailants, taking down one of the droids in the process before V and Panam flanked and dispatched them from the other side. This was an extremely dirty job by the merc’s standards, but they were outnumbered 10 to 1 at least, and he had no intention of dying on this train. </p><p> </p><p>The staff manifests V managed to pull while hacking the control module tallied up to the number of the dead in the two carriages - it seemed that there were no more Militech guards on the train. Two of them took a moment to catch their breath before surveying the carriage for their primary objective - an experimental Militech drone, which was nowhere to be seen yet again. They were running very short on time. </p><p> </p><p>“Let’s hope it’s right behind the next door!” Panam rushed forth, while V gave the droids brief commands on what to do once they got picked up by Aldecaldos before disconnecting the carriage. </p><p> </p><p>“Over here!” Panam was standing in front of the drone, which was resting on a specialised landing pad, a roof panel opening above it as the nomad was punching in commands on a small touchscreen. </p><p> </p><p>V walked further into the carriage, checking all points to make sure there were no stragglers left. Johnny stood guard as V turned his attention to Panam and the drone. </p><p> </p><p>“Isn’t she a beauty, V? This will be such an upgrade!” The nomad was still panting heavily, pumped full of post-fight adrenaline, but she was smiling. With a mental command, V put the drone on full alert and uploaded the coordinates where they needed to go. Just to be safe, he put a 48hr lockdown on any offensive capabilities and killed the antenna. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, she is indeed…” V started turning away from the door to the next carriage to face Panam when a shock of an alarm from Johnny pierced his brain. </p><p> </p><p>“V, WATCH OUT!” Johnny screamed into his ears, but V already turned away so the engram could not see what was the danger beyond the initial glimpse of the door sliding open. </p><p> </p><p>Without a moment of hesitation, V lunged himself at Panam, embracing and twisting her away from the door when the train engineer, having realised he was the only one left to defend the train, emptied his revolver in their direction. The merc felt at least two shots connect, firing jolts of pain into his brain and malfunction warnings into his vision. </p><p> </p><p>As if guided by an unseen hand, V released Panam, turned and lunged at the assailant, closing the distance at an inhuman speed, mantis blades rushing out of his forearms, with only one thought on his mind - murder. </p><p> </p><p>It was over in a split second; when V’s vision cleared, he was standing in front of two halves of a person, panting heavily, blood dripping from his blades. </p><p> </p><p>“Calm down cowboy, this was way too close. And I don’t mean the getting shot bit.” Johnny’s face was so close to his, V would feel engram’s breath if the projection could breathe. </p><p> </p><p>Panam was standing back up again. She had no time to reflect on the carnage she just witnessed, as in the next moment V’s legs gave in and he slumped on the floor. The nomad leader rushed towards her partner, diving under his not-bleeding shoulder and guiding him back up. “C’mon V, we have to delta. There is nobody to speed up the train now, but we are approaching a tunnel soon so we should go. Mitch is driving alongside us, we will just need to make a short jump. I’ll help you.” </p><p> </p><p>She opened the large cargo door, sunlight briefly blinding them both. As she said, Mitch was there, holding Panam’s rig just in line with the train so they could jump in the back. Panam gave drained V a shove before jumping herself. </p><p> </p><p>‘V! V! You are bleeding like crazy! Mitch, I need something, anything - his right shoulder is gushing blood!”. </p><p> </p><p>“I am fine…” V’s voice was faint. “I am just… glad… you are… okay Pan-am.” </p><p> </p><p>“Stop talking! Save your energy, you will need it for later when I can kill you myself for risking your life so recklessly.” </p><p> </p><p>“I… Johnny… warned… saved,” V tried to explain, but as the adrenalin waned, his body decided it has had enough. His head slumped onto Panam’s shoulder as the truck sped through the desert towards the camp. </p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Hey V, can you hear me?”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Yeah, what is this place? Why is it so dark, I can’t see anything.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Welcome to the back of your head. Now you see why I prefer to hang outside? Your brain has nothing in it, nada!” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Ah, and here he is - the old Johnny Silverhand is back!” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Don’t know what you are talking about there, choom. If it wasn’t for ye old Johnny here, you would be a cyberpsycho, or worse, a dude with a dead girlfriend. Trust me, I’ve been there, psychosis cannot hurt as much.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “So it was you, you got me to cover her and rush that guy. But how is it possible? I didn’t take the pills…”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “First things first, I take full credit for saving your favourite nomad’s life, but the rushing and the dismembering - that was all you. All I did there is almost fry myself pushing back against the red cloud of rage that was about to engulf you.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “These cursed blades will never stop trying to take over me I guess. Just like you, huh?”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “As I keep saying, I have nothing to do with your brain being taken over by the chip. In fact, the chip has more in common with the blades than with me. If it was up to me, neither of them would try to kill or psycho you.” Johnny leaned back on an invisible railing. “Only thing in common between me and those blades is that we keep saving your ass.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> V fell silent for a while. Somehow he knew he wasn’t dead, but this was also different from the first time he blacked out and found Johnny - there was no Arasaka tower penthouse, nor any flashbacks to Johnny’s past. Maybe this indeed was the space in his brain that Johnny and the engram now owned.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Hey, Johnny.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Yeah?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Thank you. I mean it. You risked your life as much as mine when you shielded her. You could have ducked instead, but you did what I would do if I could.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Of course, I could have saved our ass from getting shot, but when I think about what a whiny little bitch you would become for fuck-knows-how-long if she got shot, let alone got dead…” he stopped as he felt V’s mind warp with fear and anguish as he mentioned the possibility of Panam dying. “Oh don’t be like that V. What I mean to say is, I am glad I did it. And in the end, she is alive, we are both alive, clearly, it was the right decision.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I am glad you think that.”  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Rocker did not mention the little detail that, in fact, he did not decide anything when it came to protecting Panam. In a way, they did it at the same time, instinctively. He didn’t want to admit it to V, but Johnny was also fond of the nomad. He respected her determination, her persistence, she had the fire in her that Johnny admired. ‘She would be amazing on a bass, or drums,’ he thought to himself the other day. Perhaps it was just V’s overwhelming fondness that influenced Johnny. Whatever it was, she was important to them both, and Johnny would be a shitty friend if he didn’t help protect the important people.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> They both felt the space around them dissipate, as V’s consciousness started to return back to him.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>“V! V! Can you hear me?! V, wake up goddammit!”</p><p> </p><p>The merc opened his eyes to the blurry images of what were Panam, Mitch and the nomad ripperdoc looking at him from above. He was lying in the ripper’s chair, an extensive weave of bandages around his shoulder and torso. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey… Panam… Mitch….doc…” V grumbled, adjusting to the light. </p><p> </p><p>“You absolute moron what were you thinking?” A moment ago Panam was gently stroking V’s face, but now the merc was awake and the main danger passed, she allowed her anger to let loose.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Panam, take it easy or you will send him back into a coma”. Mitch gently caught her hand as she was about to batter at V’s healthy side. “From what you told me, the kid saved your life.” </p><p> </p><p>“What happened after… you know..?” V pushed himself up with his good hand. “Is everything alright?” </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, everything went smoothly aside from you getting shot.” Mitch was his usual upbeat self. “We collected the droids from the first carriage, and even found both of your bikes. The Arch is fine by the way, it only needs a new tire but I already have it ordered. By the time you can ride, it will be ready.” He crossed his arms, chuckling lightly. “One thing though - when the doc lets you walk around, it would be great if you can come and tell your robo-minions to get out of the trucks. They got in fine, but I guess their directive was to let us move them to the camp, but nothing beyond that. They are just standing there, and they are way too heavy for us to just move them.” </p><p> </p><p>V chuckled back. “Sure thing, sorry about that - I was trying to make sure the orders were simple enough so they wouldn’t misinterpret it.” </p><p> </p><p>“Don’t sweat it, we are not doing any runs for a while anyway. Need to let this die down a bit first. Anyway, I’ll see you later - got to set up a new rig for that shiny new drone that we got.” </p><p> </p><p>Mitch was gone and the ripper stepped out to check on someone else in the other tent. Panam pulled up a stool and sat next to V, just looking at the injured merc, sad thoughts reflecting on her tanned face. </p><p> </p><p>“You can’t do that V…” she said softly. </p><p> </p><p>“Do what exactly?” V wasn’t sure if it was the part where he took a few bullets or the part where he split a guy in half. </p><p> </p><p>“Risk your life for me. It’s not fair, as I can never repay this kind of debt.”</p><p> </p><p>“Panam…” V covered her hand that was resting on the armrest of his char with his. “You owe me nothing, we are way past trading debts and favours. I do it because I want to, and because there is no situation where I would choose you to be hurt over me.” To reiterate, V repeated looking into Panam’s eyes. “You don’t owe me anything, ever.”</p><p> </p><p>“But what do you expect me to do if next time the bullet hits something more vital than your shoulder? Huh, what then?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I hope you write something nice on my grave plate, at the least.” V shrugged, prompting a furious stare from the Aldecaldo leader.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am serious, V!”</p><p> </p><p>“And so am I. Either way, my life is far less valuable than yours, it only makes sense that I protect you and not vice versa.” </p><p> </p><p>“How is my life more valuable than…” Panam started, but then realised what he meant when V looked at her with his trademark ‘you know what’ expression. “No! V… Fuck! You know I HATE it when you remind me of <em> that </em>!” </p><p> </p><p>“I know, but it doesn’t make it any less real.” V shrugged. “You don’t have a timer above your head, I do. It’s a no brainer whose life is worth more…” He had more to say, but a loud slap followed by a burning feeling on his cheek stopped him. </p><p> </p><p>Panam was standing, hand outstretched, breathing heavily. “Stop this. Now. We will find a way, I told you we will. Or don’t you believe me?!” Her shoulders heaved as she stared at him, waiting for the answer. </p><p> </p><p>“Yes, you did. And I believe you, but in the moments like that on the train, all I can do is weigh the options right there and then.” V shrugged. </p><p> </p><p>“In that case, we are just gonna have to fix you soon then, so you can stop being such a reckless idiot all the time.” Panam was still angry, but not directly with him anymore. Her holo beeped, she paused for a second to read the message. “I have to go, Saul’s calling. You rest, and that’s an order.” </p><p> </p><p>“Yes, chief.” Arguing with Panam drained any reserves of energy that he had left. He couldn’t move anywhere even if he wanted to. </p><p> </p><p>The nomad took the last look at V before she left the tent as if to check he wasn’t getting ready to sneak out.</p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>“I count this argument as a win for us, all things considered.” Johnny was leaning against the support beam, digital cigarette in his hand. “But she won’t let this go, you know that, right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course… It’s Panam, if she sets out to do something, she will do it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Like she set out to do you, huh?” </p><p> </p><p>“Hah… very funny…” V whispered out loud into the empty tent, drifting away, as he let the exhaustion take over him. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I felt like more action was needed, so there we go. This was initially intended to be a V-Mitch mission to show off the vet in action, but then I came up with the ending so Mitch sat this one out. I’ll just have to come up with another gig for them to do I guess. </p><p>I wanted to explore and expand on some of the game’s mechanics, like hacking or how V sees through walls (sometimes randomly).   Johnny certainly has a lot of untapped combat potential. </p><p>Thank you for reading and as always - any feedback is very welcomed!</p><p>P.S. Of course Jackie’s Arch is fine, it wouldn’t go down so easily.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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